YMMV / Diary of a Mad Black Woman

• Awesome Music: Toni Braxton's beautifully sultry "Stupid", as heard during the restaurant scene listed under Tear Jerker.
• Catharsis Factor: Although the movie wants you to feel bad about it, watching Helen get payback on Charles is immensely satisfying, especially for the film version of the story since he was that much crueler to her compared to the play. It's tempting to cheer as she gives him a taste of his own medicine since he more than deserves it after what he's done. Hell, she makes him cry. It's kind of badass in a sick sort of way.
• Critical Dissonance: Even though critics really didn't like this movie with a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences gave the film a much better reception of 87%.
• First Installment Wins: Of all of Tyler Perry's films, many regard this as his best, even as he himself wasn't the director (Darren Grant directed it instead). Almost all other films he's made follow a blueprint that this movie put in place since it's regarded as his "best" work.
• Iron Woobie: Brian and to a lesser extent, the children.
• Narm: The scene in the house after Charles accepts his award. All of it's so over the top that it becomes absolutely hilarious.
• Rewatch Bonus: Upon watching the opening scene at the banquet again, there are several lingering shots on different people attending the event and when Charles is making his speech and blowing a kiss, he was motioning towards Brenda instead of Helen, who was sitting directly behind her. Also, watch for the former's presence/reaction during said scene, specifically her Sarcastic Clapping while Charles "praises" the latter.
• Special Effect Failure: As Helen dumps a paralyzed Charles into the bath, we see that it's obviously a stunt double lying inside the water briefly due to two reasons: the basic t-shirt he was wearing suddenly became sleeveless and he now has a more muscular physique.
• Strawman Has a Point:
  • Helen is portrayed in the wrong for her unwillingness to quickly jump into a relationship with Orlando. While she was mean to him at first, this is forgetting the fact that Helen just went through a nasty separation from Charles. Emotional wounds like that take time to heal and Charles' actions towards Helen were still fresh in the latter's mind. She does eventually forgive Charles at the almost-end of the movie, though.
  • Helen is also portrayed in the wrong for letting Charles win in the court case by allowing him to keep all the money. Keep in mind that Charles is a lawyer with many years of experience. If Helen were to succeed in taking money from him, then Charles would find another way to obtain the money back, rendering Helen's actions useless.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Helen being forcefully removed from the house while she screams and pleads for Charles to stop and then banging on the door after being thrown out to be let back in, all while Brenda looks on like it's nothing.
  • Also the scene in the restaurant while she witnesses the young couple across from her getting engaged.
  • The line about Helen's miscarriages is pretty damn sad, especially when she cites that Charles was the reason for it; from the way she describes it, he may have had some kind of STD or STI that prevented both births from delivering healthy babies, and he never even apologized to her for them.
• The Woobie: Helen, of course. Deborah would count, as well.

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